Around-the-World Roundup: 'John Carter' Shows Some Strength Overseas

by Ray Subers

John Carter

March 11, 2012

Coinciding with its disappointing domestic debut, John Carter performed a bit better in its overseas opening this weekend. The movie grossed an estimated $70.6 million* from 51 territories, which included all major markets aside from China and Japan.

At $16.5 million, John Carter scored the fifth-highest debut in Russian box office history. It did do solid business throughout the Asian Pacific marketplace as well—its biggest openings there were in South Korea ($3.4 million) and Australia ($3.27 million).

Otherwise, though, the numbers were fairly unremarkable. In Europe, the movie saw middling results in France ($3.98 million), the U.K. ($3.13 million), Germany ($3.29 million), Spain ($2.72 million) and Italy ($1.6 million). It was slightly better in Latin America ($3.42 million in Mexico and $2.4 million in Brazil, for example), but none of these figures suggest the movie is in for blockbuster runs.

Considering China and Japan are the largest markets in the Asian Pacific region and have yet to open, John Carter could ultimately be in for a respectable final tally. Still, historical comparisons seem to suggest that the best case scenario is around $300 million overseas, which combined with its middling domestic performance isn't going to be nearly enough to put this one in the black.

Aside from John Carter, the foreign box office was pretty quiet this weekend. This Means War added $9.2 million for a foreign total of $56.7 million. That brings the movie's worldwide (domestic plus foreign) figure to just over $100 million, and it still has Brazil, Mexico, France, Italy and Japan on the horizon.

Journey 2 grossed $9.2 million for an overseas total just over $200 million. The movie's top territory so far is China, where it's amassed an impressive $57.4 million.

After fading from the charts for a few weeks, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows reappeared thanks to a $3.7 million debut in Japan. That's nearly double the opening of the first Sherlock movie, and brings the sequel's foreign total to $335.5 million. At $522 million worldwide, Sherlock 2 is only a few days away from passing the original Sherlock's $524 million total.

*As of Tuesday evening, Disney has only provided the $70.6 million Sunday estimate for John Carter, and has not updated with an actual figure. One report from a rival studio has the final weekend tally winding up as low as $63 million, though that information cannot currently be verified.